Although we have not gone down that far again, it has still remained pretty cold lately and we have had snow although not as much as usual. One day we had freezing rain which was horrible. These are photos of the car after driving 75km in it.

Ice rain

Yesterday we had snow and heavy winds which caused havoc on the roads and made for a very slow journey home. Whilst sitting watching TV last night it was snowing outside but we also has thunder and lightening. How weird is that?

Because of the ice and snow I have been using the Tuscan to drive in as it is better in these conditions than our new Veloster. It is a shame as since we got it we have only done 1300km. I’m sure it will make up for it during the summer.

We arrived mid day on Friday 15th July 2011 and parked pretty close to the fairground – parking was free. We had to walk over a walkway which crossed over the main road to get the the fairground area where the event was taking place.

The entrance fee was $17 and I was a little frustrated that they did not offer multi-day tickets. We had to purchase tickets for this day then come back the next and buy them again. We purchased a program too which was $5 but every hour a number was drawn to win $100. Our program number was 10041 and 10033 got drawn – so close yet so far!

We decided to use this afternoon to wander round and get to know where everything was and the come back the next day to take photos etc. The heat was almost unbearable – well into the 90′s, so we drank plenty of water and had several ice creams. The prices for food, beverages etc was very good and did not seem to be inflated for the show.

Anyway, this is a car show and boy did they have cars. Apparently there were over 6,000 there and I can well believe it. I have never seen so many custom cars, hot rods, classics etc. They came in every style and every colour.

I was hoping we would win the lottery whilst we were there so we could buy a few, but it was not to be. A good proportion of the cars on show were for sale, so if you are in this market it was definitely the place to be.

In addition to the cars were hundreds of vendors selling everything a car enthusiast could want from engine parts, to t-shirts. There were some odd vendors there too selling baths and windows – but they didn’t look busy!

We did not get around the whole site during the first afternoon as it got too hot and we decided to go to our hotel and come back the following morning.

The Saturday was busier as we had expected as more people were off work, but because we got there early the heat was almost bearable. We went row by row through the cars and I think we saw pretty much all of them. It was an amazing couple of days and we cannot wait to go back again next year.

There was a also some special guests from Happy Days, signing autographs etc. Joanie was there as was Henry Winkler aka Fonz. He was definitely the most popular and people were lining up for ages to see him. I didn’t other but managed to get a very good photo of him anyway.

Henry Winkler - Fonz at Syracuse Nationals

A brilliant show for car fans, even if like us you know nothing about the actual vehicles, you just admire their beauty.

More photos can be seen in my photo gallery:

The ironic thing was we had to first clear the snow from our very long driveway in order to get the car out so we could go into town to buy a blower! So, dressed in layers we each grabbed a shovel and off we set to clear the driveway. It total it took us two hours and we were completely knackered at the end and knew we would suffer with our backs later, but it had to be done. Have I mentioned that it is a very long drive? Here is the result of our labours.

Next we went into town to find a snow blower. Of course this is the wrong end of winter to buy one as most places had very few models left. We ended up in Sears and chose one recommended by the sales guy who was very helpful. We paid for it and were told to pick it up from the collection area. This was fine until we realized it would not fit in the back of the vehicle. Remind me why we downsized our SUV? So then we decided to have it delivered. The guy told us we could have it delivered on Saturday (it was Thursday) and that it would cost $65. We then had to go back in the store to arrange this.

We had to wait at the cashier desk for ages whilst he dealt with another customer, then it turns out he didn’t know how to arrange delivery for an item that had already been issued a receipt. So we had to wait for another staff member to come over and help him. Eventually it was done and they told us they could deliver on Tuesday. We told them we had been told Saturday but apparently the person who told us this was wrong and shouldn’t have done so.

We really wanted the blower before that as we were forecast more snow over the weekend and would have to clear the driveway to allow the delivery vehicle access when it turned up. By this time (we had been in Sears nearly an hour) Chris was really fed up and decided to cancel the purchase and buy one from Lowes where we could hire a van for $20 and take it home ourselves. Unpon this revelation the sales guy phoned the manager and asked for help saying his customer wanted to cancel an order. Next thing we knew the manager was offering to deliver it himself that very afternoon.

This was great news, although one has to wonder why a store as large as Sears cannot deliver more than once or twice a week. Anyway, we gave directions to our house and drove home. About 40 mins later the manager turned up with the snow blower. We then realized we didn’t have any gas in the canister to fill it with, so whilst Chris read the instructions – well that is what he told me he was doing – but he is a man so he probably just fiddled with levers until he did the right thing! I went to off to get a canister of gas.

Within minutes of me arriving back laden with fuel the blower was up and running and off he went to try out his new toy.

Since buying the snow blower Chris has been out three times to clear the drive, so well worth the investment so far. Now he has his ride on mower for the summer and his snow blower for winter enjoyment. Boys and their toys!!

Oh, and yes we did suffer from the shoveling. Aching backs, aching arms and I am so glad we don’t have to do that again.

I phoned the local dealership just to check that this was indeed the case and that the offer applied to leased vehicles and they confirmed that yes we could take advantage of the offer too. We made an appointment to pop in and discuss the options available. As we had not thought of a new car we hadn’t done any research on newer vehicles, so off to the internet we went.

We had no problems with the Santa Fe, but thought that perhaps we could get away with a smaller vehicle. We have a very long driveway that gets very deep in snow and we needed a vehicle that could cope with that so decided to stick with an SUV. That led us to the Tuscan.

It looked very nice on the website and it was a completely new design so would not look too old in a year or so. The Santa Fe is really due a new look, so the chances of getting a new one of those and then it being replaced next year or so was high. At least with the Tuscan we would get a new model.

We went into the dealership with all our original paperwork and they offered us a test drive in the Tuscan. We went out in a red one which had a brown interior that we did not like, but we did like the layout of of the interior. We also like the exterior very much. We decided after half hour drive that we would be very happy with the Tuscan as it offered all the things we like about the Santa Fe, but a bit smaller – I could actually put groceries in the back without having to climb in as it wasn’t as deep – yeah!

We drove back to the dealer and took a look at the models available. We wanted the GLS model with AWD and had a choice of several colours and much to our shock both chose the bronze. This was a colour we had dismissed from the brochure online as it didn’t look very nice, but in the flesh it looked much better. Also the interior was black which we loved.

Next we had to discuss the money side of things. We wanted to purchase this time rather than lease, so knew we might end up paying more per month, but they came up with an excellent deal which actually cost us less – that’s what I like to hear!

So we did the deal and are now owners of a brand new Hyundai Tuscan. Although we have only had it a couple of days we are very pleased with it so far. It is very comfortable, more so than the old car and it has an iPod connection which is a great bonus for me.

Here are some pics. The exterior ones are stock photos as it has been too damn cold to stand outside taking photos of it. But it is exactly the same as our model.

On a completely disjointed note, we have just spotted a chipmunk under the tree collecting nuts. Didn’t think we would see one of those again until April!

We ordered it last week and the process of going to the dealer, test driving and saying yes we will have one was so easy and straight forward we were worried it would all collapse around us, so I decided not to temp fate by mentioning it here. Now we actually have the car (or should I say SUV) I can relax and finally come clean.

I cannot stress how easy everything was to arrange. We thought the process of buying our original Ford Sport Trac was easy as we did that whilst still in the UK – mainly by phone and email, but this was just as easy.

We simply went in said we wanted it, they checked our credit history and said okay, sign here. They did not ask for proof of income, employment etc, Presumably because we were already paying a lease to Ford they took it we were okay for them.

So on Friday morning we took back our Ford, removed the plates, signed a form and then Ford allowed us to use their courtesy car to get a lift to the Hyundai garage up the road. We then signed a couple more forms, looked around the Santa Fe to check everything, attached the plates and off we went.

We had to go to Kingston, so our first rip was a decent drive and it is a very nice vehicle. So far we are very pleased with it. Here are some pics.

And inside

This car should be much cheaper to run as the service intervals are slightly longer 6k as opposed to 5k and the service costs appear lower than Ford. So far the fuel is looking much better and as the fuel tank is smaller the actual cost of filling up will be less – so psychologically better too. We were having to pay over $100 to fill up the truck lately.

On a sad note – not boo hoo sad, but really sad – here are the stats for our old vehicle. Bare in mind we had it almost exactly two years.

We spent 973 hours driving it

We did 64,750 km

We used 8,525 litres of fuel

No I did not keep a record of this – the car did it for us!

We must have really liked the plot because we kept trying to bring ourselves round to liking the house even more than we really did, but I am sure we would have regretted buying it in a few months. Still, it is the closest we have come to seriously considering buying somewhere else.

The weather here has been brilliant for the last few months. We have had the odd days with rain and a few cloudy days, but on the whole it has been sun and high 20’s temps all the way. Some days it has gone well into the 30’s which for me is far too hot. If you add the humidex onto that some days it has been in the 40’s – my delicate pale skin cannot take it!!

The other day we had to take the truck into Ford as we had a slow puncture. They found the nail but it was not repairable, so we had to have a new tire. When we took it in we were told it would be about half an hour, so we decided to wait. However one hour and forty minuets later it finally was complete. We were also told it would cost around $300 including tax and the service they also did the previous week, but the bill was actually a little over $350. Then to add insult to injury, the woman serving us said “you don’t seem to have caught the sun much” So, now not only had we had to wait forever and pay over the odds, but now I was lily white too….cheek.

We had to have our truck serviced on Friday and the bill was extortionate – $45. Honesty I don’t think a garage in the UK would even look at a car for that sort of money let alone service it. I know it was one of the smaller services (30,000km) but still.

It is really hot here at the moment and has been for several weeks. We had a few cooler days (low 20’sC) last week but mainly it has been in the high 20’s. Today we got 34C which is really too hot and the weather man suggested with the humidex it felt like the low 40’s which I can well believe. The heat is even wearing the squirrels out and they can be found flaked out in the trees and on the seed boxes, they are so funny.

We have been successfully keeping the growing number of raccoons at bay. So far we have noted two different mothers with five babies each and another with three. They are totally adorable, but they keep coming out in the day and they literally take over the feeding stations in the garden, which means the squirrels, and chipmunks are frightened off. Hubby has devised a plan that involves using the hosepipe to flush them out of the garden. For some reason they are quite happy to sit out in the rain and eat, but don’t like to be hosed. We don’t care if they come around at night and finish off the leftover food, but to steal it from our “regulars” during the day is just not on.

Ford took off all the wheels and jet washed them for us. In all it was in the garage for about an hour and they charged $30, so not too bad. And most importantly, it no longer vibrates.

We decided last week to change our office around. It was in the fourth bedroom downstairs in the basement, but we felt that one of the rooms we had renovated was not being used, so we decided to use it as an office area.

We ordered new desks for the office as we only had cheap ones that we got when we first landed and they weren’t very good. We decided to treat ourselves to some really nice dark wood desks. We were going to get a couple of desks that were cheaper then these, but they weren’t quite as nice and we decided to go mad. We ordered them off the Office Depot website and were given a delivery date of Wed 21st Feb. We waited in for the delivery, but at 3pm ish a guy from office Depot called to say that he did not have them in stock and would have to get them from another store. I was not happy as we had waited all day for them and no one had called before to let us know the problem. They waited until the last hour of the delivery window to let us know.

After lots of moaning and negotiating, he said that he could get them delivered for the following Wednesday (28th). I asked for compensation for the inconvenience etc and he surprised me by giving me a $100 reduction off each desk. I was happy with that as this made them the same price as the alternative desks we nearly bought because they were cheaper.

So, on Wednesday once again we waited for the desks to arrive. I phoned in the morning to check the progress and was assured they would be delivered before 5pm. At 3.15pm the delivery guy phoned to ask for directions and said he was just leaving the shop. We are about 20 mins from the shop so expected him by 3.45 ish.

He eventually arrived at 5.45pm, better late than never I suppose. He turned up in a Dodge Caravan and the guy was huge, I mean really huge. He could barely walk, let alone pick up the boxed desks. He had another guy with him and they really struggled to get the two desks in the house.

After they left we had dinner then set about putting the desks together. As I said, we had decided to buy good desks, but they had so many parts and they were so heavy, it took us two hours to put one together. After one we decided to stop and do the other the following day.

We now have two really nice desks and our new office space looks really great, we are really pleased with it. Also because these desks had drawers (how posh is that!!!) we can put everything away. Our other desks didn’t, so everything was on top and on shelves etc. I know it is really sad to get so excited over a couple of desks, but what the heck.

On Thursday on our way back from Belleville we noticed that the truck was starting to vibrate. We guessed that maybe some ice had gotten on the wheel and was taking it out of balance, so we didn’t think too much of it.

However on Friday we went to Kingston and it was really vibrating badly. It didn’t seem to matter what speed we were doing it still shook and if you went really fast all the back seats started to jump about. You can feel it going through your whole body – and no ladies it isn’t as fun as it sounds! We managed to get back from Kingston without throwing up, but had to pop into Ford to ask them to look at it.

So, it is in tomorrow morning to see if they know what it is and can fix it – quickly hopefully. And it was performing so well up to now! Perhaps it got wind of our visit to the Toronto car show and decided to have a tantrum.

On Tuesday we went to the Auto Show in Toronto. I was a very pleasant day as the weather was +5C, the first time above zero since Christmas. Had a good drive down and found the car park straight away. It was only half full, so no problems parking.

We had pre-purchased our tickets off the Internet and what a hassle it was to redeem them. We kept getting sent to different ticket booths until finally we reached one that could help. They stamped our hands and we were on our way.

The show was set out in three different buildings, The North Convention Centre, South Convention Centre and the Rogers Centre where the Blue Jay’s play some sport or other. We found the directions and mapping within the buildings and in the brochure to be very vague. It told you that such and such were in a certain building, but did not tell you how to get from the place you were to the new location. Even the in-building maps didn’t have a simple “you are here”.

The buildings were connected by car park walkways and inflatable tunnels and it was all very confusing. Lots of people were wandering around lost, so it wasn’t just us!

All this aside the show was pretty good and not very busy which was nice. It was very obvious the difference in quality from the European and Asian cars to the North American cars. Although some American manufacturers seem to be addressing the issue, the quality of finish in the Audi’s, Mazda and Toyota etc was far superior to the GMC, Pontiacs etc.

There were some truly spectacular concept cars. One I fell in love with from Mazda was beautiful and is expected to be the future MX5, but we will have to wait and see.

One car, the Efijy, was a brand new car but in the old style was another beauty (purple car). There were a few other funky ones too and Ford had the Postman Pat concept van on show – not much I can say about that one!

All in all it was a good day out and we got to look in a good few car although unfortunately you couldn’t sit in the Lamborghini or the Aston Martins.

Yesterday we had a rather exciting thing happen – the power went out for an hour and we finally used our generator – little things!